Fruits and vegetables have been receiving considerable attention as consumers become more health conscious. Health benefits associated with regular consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables such as blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, apple, carrots, broccoli and tomato are generally well recognized (Djuric and Powell, 2001; Kays, 2001).
Health conscious consumers are increasingly spending more on fresh produce, and are buying new value-added fresh-produce products (Dimitri et al., 2004). Value-added fresh-produce products include fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, such as carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, leafy greens, strawberries, blueberries, apple, grapes, cranberries etc., which are offered for sale in a pre-packaged form. This type of value-added benefit, which provides the product in a Ready-to-Eat form, may allow the product to be cooked while still within the package and/or allow the product to be distributed and stored in various Ready-to-Eat forms, such as pre-packaged salads, pre-packaged baby carrots, pre-packaged strawberries, and the like.
The US produce market is estimated at about $88 billion and these value-added products comprise the most rapidly growing segment of the fresh produce industry as well as one of the most rapidly growing categories in the supermarket and food service markets. This growth is evidenced by facts, such as that the consumption of value-added produce has increased from $82 million in 1989 to $10 billion in 2003 (Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion) accounting for over 10% of produce sales. The value-added segment of the US produce market is expected to reach approximately $25 billion over the next five years, with the food service market alone accounting for 20% or $5 billion. Fast food restaurants, supermarket chains, and food service brokers are expected to fuel the continued growth of this market sector.
One of the major factors contributing to successfully increasing consumption of fruit and vegetables is delivering products with good quality. Efforts to maintain the quality of lightly processed perishable products (fresh fruit and vegetables) throughout the processes of distribution and storage has focused on modifying or controlling the internal atmospheric environment provided by the packages within which these products are distributed and stored. The atmospheric modification which takes place in packages may be dependent upon several variables such as permeability of the material of the package, respiration rate of the perishable product and temperature during distribution and storage. Currently, there are techniques which attempt to modify or control the atmosphere within the package(s) containing these products. Typically, these controlled atmosphere packaging devices utilize regimes similar to those of controlled-atmosphere storage. Unfortunately, these controlled-atmosphere regimes may not provide optimal atmospheric conditions within the package for the various products during their distribution and storage, which may result in premature fermentation (degradation) of the product within. This premature fermentation may result in decreased shelf-life of the perishable food products, which in turn may result in decreased sales of the products.
Further, the current modified atmosphere technology may not allow for the food product to develop to a desired ripeness, providing a certain aesthetic, in a time sensitive manner and then be maintained at the desired ripeness for a prolonged period of time. For instance, the distribution and storage of bananas is influenced by a color scale from 3 to 6. At a desired ripeness the bananas are typically at 3-4 on the color scale presenting an aesthetic of a yellow banana peel with few or no discolorations. The discolorations are indicative of the degradation of the banana fruit and as they increase in appearance, the sale of such bananas may decrease. Bananas are typically distributed and stored in packaging devices, therefore having a packaging device able to assist in prolonging the banana fruit at the desired ripeness indicated by a color appearance of 3-6 would be desirable.
The Ready-to-Eat packaging devices mentioned above may provide a simplified meal alternative or may allow for the cooking of the produce within. Current technology provides packaging devices which allow the package, including the product within, to be steam cooked, such as within a microwave oven. Unfortunately, this type of packaging may not employ any modified atmosphere capabilities or simply employ those which are currently known and do not optimize product life. Therefore, fermentation (degradation) of the food product may result after a shortened product life making the product aesthetically undesirable, possibly nutritionally compromised and possibly unsafe to eat from a microbiological standpoint.
U.S. Published Patent Application No. 0012530 A1 describes a microwave heating/cooking method for a packaged cooked food stored in water or aqueous medium utilizing holes (>5,000μ) covered with heat sensitive adhesive. During microwave heating, the adhesive falls apart, thereby, allowing the steam formed from water or the aqueous medium of the packaged food to exit through the holes. However, the key criterion for this package to work is that food needs to be packaged in water medium and the package has to be airtight to avoid any leaks. Such configuration restricts the use of this package only to products containing added water. In addition, the airtight nature of the package will make the use of that technique inapplicable to products having breathability requirements.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,730,874 B2 discloses a method for drilling holes through packaging materials for produce applications. The use of perforations for controlling the gas exchange of non-microwaveable packaging materials is based on the concept that thickness of the film played no role in influencing the gas exchange of the non-microwavable film. Thus, the method of making and use of perforations as described in the above patent are not applicable to microwavable films.
Therefore it would be desirable to provide a packaging device and method of packaging food products, such food products possibly having breathability requirements or not, that allows produce and other food contents of the package to maintain excellent quality and shelf life during distribution and may also allow the packaged food products to be cooked (i.e., steam cooked) while in the packaging device, allowing maximum quality and nutrient retention.